ATC
Planned ATC Consolidation Will Leave Some Towers Unmanned

The concept isn’t new. In fact, one could call it a logical extension of development work that originated with Saab in Sweden in the mid-2000s, which showed the economic potential of datalinking various sensors at an unmanned airport to controllers at a distant air traffic monitoring and control center. Such a center could handle a number of small airports that had relatively few arrivals and departures but that still needed personnel to maintain a monitoring watch. It would also allow an airport to extend its operating hours without requiring extra staff and would provide a continuing watch outside those hours.

Last year Saab became Saab Sensis, following Saab’s acquisition of the Syracuse, N.Y. manufacturer of radar, multilateration and ASDE-X equipment, which is currently engaged in major control tower upgrades for Airservices Australia.